All Forum Posts by: Bill McCasky

Searching didnt turn up much - 

I have a 4-plex in '04 - tried to cut the water at the street for some upgrades and the top of the shutoff vale snapped off. See it in red in picture.  The bldg was built in '72 so its likely almost 50 years old.   

Am I responsible for these repairs? (The shutoff valve is on street side)

How long does this take to get fixed from the city?  What if i hire a plumber?

Whats the cheapest way to get this remedied?  Fastest?  

If I call the city - how do I phrase this in the best way possible for myself?

Whats your experience with anything similar to this?    Any tips?

Image attached for reference/example, only:

I'm moving into 1 unit of a quadplex that I'm purchasing via a pocket listing, closing this week.

Is it better for me to leave the homestead exemption on my SFH (appraised at $225k) or move it to the new quadplex (appraised at $425k) as of 2017.

I'm thinking i should leave it on the SFH that has a higher valuation, as I will only get the HS exemption on 1/4 of the quad, correct? This would be the best fiscal decision as far as I can tell, but looking for confirmation.

Follow up questions - Will the county reappraise the new quad right away? Can they find out sales price from a pocket listing if its not on MLS?

This is travis county, texas.

Hey @Andrew Johnson - Thanks for the points to consider.

From what I've been told by the owner, the current rents are slightly inline, to slightly below others.  But that could be due to how updated the property is, current tenants have been there a while, etc.  You have a good point that it the 2 bedroom places will bring more cars.    As far as transportation, its reasonably close to a 1 line, but this city is pretty car dependent.   Your points definitely will help in marketing and planning.  Thank you.

Hopefully others can chime in on how much to adjust a sales price!

How do i value absence of dedicated paved parking spots for a property?  Im looking to make an offer on a multi-family quadplex that does not have parking spots where most other fourplexs  on that street do have at least some paved parking. There is a medium amount of street parking and I can see the current tenants are parking on the street at night. It gets crowded, but it looks to be at least functional to this point.

Ive googled and search on the forums here, (maybe poorly) but cant find any related topics.

I've pulled up the tax records and compared the land improvement valuations, but cant seem to digest how to come up with a number.  For example the surrounding houses on the county tax website as as follows:

Prop A - 3600 sq' bldg, 2400 sq' parking, 7700 sq' lot - Taxed Improvements Val: $150,000

Prop B - 3600 sq' bldg, 1400 sq' parking, 8700 sq' lot - Taxed Improvements Val : $210,000

Prop C - 3600 sq' bldg, 3000 sq' parking, 13300 sq' lot - Taxed Improvements Val : $200,000 

The property I'm interested in :

Prop  - 3600 sq' bldg, 0000 sq' parking, 8700 sq' lot - Taxed Improvements Val : $160,000

Any suggestions?

Bill

I direct mailed a bunch of multi-family owners in my area, and got a response from a realtor who owns a quadplex.   In my letter, I said I'd like to avoid using realtors (and use an attorney instead) to save some cash.  Have I lost any financial incentive for me to not use a realtor myself?  Or am I thinking about this wrong? Now that he's a realtor, whats the best way to proceed? If i move forward, is he going to claim buyers agent?